The Mismatch - The Mismatch LIVE! | El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles

Episode Date: March 7, 2023

Verno and KOC take over El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles for their first live show! And they’re not alone, as The Ringer's own Sean Fennessey, Chris Ryan, and Tate Frasier join in on the fun. They discuss all the hottest topics in basketball, from Ja Morant to the surging Knicks and James Harden to the best college prospects to keep an eye out for during March Madness. Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Guests: Sean Fennessey, Chris Ryan, and Tate Frazier Producers: Jessie Lopez, Elizabeth Fierman, and Ben Cruz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's official. One Shining Podcast is back, and I am your host, Tate Frazier. And as March Badness begins, we're covering everything from Selection Sunday all the way to the championship and beyond. We're going to have great guests that are coming through on the show. And look, if you're a friend of the program and you're already subscribed, you don't have to do anything. OSP is back. It's going to be right back in your feed. And if you're not a friend of the program, and this is your first time on the rodeo, then let me tell you this. You need to go to Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcast. and smash subscribe today

because the OSP show is back. So how is everybody else's weekend? It's been a tough one for you, huh Chris? Yeah, all right. So before we get going here, we want to find a super fan. I need one super fan that believes they can do the Kevin O's

at the beginning of the show. We're going to let one, we're going to let one person, if I can get a volunteer, somebody that believes they can do the Kevin O's at the beginning of the show. How many can you get? All right.

We got somebody? You believe you can do it? Come on, man. We just got one. Come on, man. Let's do this. Oh, this is great. Found one.

All right. Look at my guy. He said he raises in immediately. He said, I can do it. Nobody else feels like they can reach the level of error. The Kevin O's? All right. What's your name, brother?

Wyatt. Wyatt. Everybody give it up for Wyatt. Yeah, Wyatt. Yeah. All right, Wyatt. You think you can do it? Oh, yeah.

All right. I don't know if anybody can do what Chris does. No. I think Wyatt may take the gig. All right, here we go. Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon. And joining me as he does every Tuesday from the ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor,

A.k.a. Kevin O'Concer, Kevin. Hold on now. We only got one. There's only, come on, there's got to be more O's. Come on. Kevin O. G. N and O. B. Yeah. Kevin O. Giananobie. Yeah. All right. Thank you, Wyatt. Thank you, bro. Thanks for coming out, too. Give it up for Wyatt. Can you do?

Not as many as you. You know, the funny thing is, Verno is he raffles them off the top of his head before every show doesn't have him written down oh bomber oh concerts oh cannabis oh blizzardian oh climber oh candy land oh oh cannabis oh killian that's one i'd like to forget oh conflict oh characters oh comment oh comment there you go oh comment we got a obama kevin obama we've got a bobba kevin obamba we've got a bunch of them. Bumble, yep,

not on there anymore. Kevin O. Bumble. Kevin O. Blasarian, you're getting to see the beard in person. Controversy is another good one. All right.

So, as I said, when we first walked out, how was everybody else's weekend? This was... We have a lot of... A lot of Lakers fans. It was.

It was. But... Lakers fans? Her to light the beam? How many Kings fans? Kings. Wow. A lot of booboos and, yeah, not many Kings fans.

Well, everybody's weekend was better than mine. Yeah. I feel safe and safe that. Poor. Poor. Verdo! Yeah, it was a tough weekend to say the least. I want to thank whoever it was,

that told me that you can open up a tweet and you can click three little dots at the top corner and you can mute conversation because he saved me on Saturday. So, as many of you know, on Saturday morning, woke up and honestly, it's the first thing when I woke up. I was awake when it happened. I had gotten all manner...

I got the notification. I got an all manner of text. with a picture on there. And I was like, please be Photoshopped. Please be Photoshopped. Please be Photoshopped. It was not.

Nor were the girls in the back. Indeed. None of them were Photoshop. Nothing was. It appeared it was a legitimate photograph. To which my immediate response was... No deep fakes are pretty good these days. AI voice.

I mean, I was like, and there's no way that was last night. Tell me that was a long time ago. none of which were true, right? So John Morant put the picture up. If you turned on the news today, I had, when I was in the hotel this morning, I woke up at 7.30. By the time I got to 10.30 a.m., they had talked about it or had a panel about it nine times throughout there. So everybody is aware by now about the John Morant photo that went out over the weekend.

So I got destroyed because on our last podcast, people thought I laughed off different allegations. of his in the past or defended him or I'm a homer, whatever the case may be. Now, just a little bit of a homer. So, just a little. Here's what I'll say. It doesn't matter whether or not the Pacer's incident was overblown.

It doesn't matter whether or not the thing at his house was overblown. Like none of that matters at this point because John Morant didn't to make you believe that that was not true. I could come out and I could say, hey, that guy doesn't stab people, but if he's dancing around on Instagram with a knife, I'm in kind of a tough spot, you know, if we're being honest.

And so, you know, the story comes out, and he obviously was at this club. And I think that, my immediate my immediate reaction was oh my god what have you done um my second reaction was what is what is happening here what is happening with this guy and he's changed he didn't enter the league like yeah i mean so obviously i've got a different perspective on it than a lot of people do because i've been there like he was in my studio the day he got drafted um i know the sister i know the parents I know the friends.

I know whatever. And it's like, what has happened? And I think that, you know, when I come off that way, I come from that perspective, whether that's, you know, and I may be wrong

in coming from that perspective, but when people say, you know, like, yeah, you never really know somebody. Like, we all feel like we do. And sometimes people change. And for whatever reason, you know,

whether it's a cry for help or whether it is, um, whether it is, as he said in his statement, like, I need to deal with the stress better, whether it's, you know, this is what happens when he's drinking or whether it's because he's got the weight of the world. He's got this $200 million.

He's got all these kids wearing his jersey. He's got all these people that love him and is so wildly uncomfortable with the fame. And that's why I tweeted out what I did. It's like, we've seen this a million times with people that get to superstardom that aren't equipped to deal with it. And then they start acting.

reckless, right? Which is why we're in the place we are now where this could be either, you know, a rock bottom moment where Jock gets better from this. It's important that the Grizzlies and the NBA, however they handle it with a suspension or time away, whatever they want to frame it as. This is a moment for Jha that's going to define him moving forward as a guy that, you know, is one of the merging faces of the NBA in a small market franchise with your Memphis Grizzlies. It's the type of thing right now for them, like how they handle this and how he handles this. more than anybody is of the utmost importance. Like, we talked about it on last week's show.

You said it. He needs to change his inner circle. That's where it needs to start with his own choices that he's making. I mean, and obviously, look, it's part of changing. You need people around you that are willing to tell you no when you act wild. You know what I mean? Like, when it comes that moment, there's somebody that's got to stop you when you've got the camera up and you're doing this. You know what I mean?

There's somebody. And again, you are responsible for those actions, though. in the end, it's him. Like, I can say, hey, don't hang out with this guy or don't hang out with this guy or don't act this way. But in the end, it's his deal. And it's his name in all of those headlines. And it's him that's going to have to pay the consequences for it. And so these are real consequences.

I will tell you, just from people that I talked to, obviously I flew in here yesterday. And I was at the Clipper game last night. And I talked to people. And they say that they, you know, found a sober guy and a somber guy on Saturday. Hopefully he was sober by then. Hopefully he was, you know, hopefully he was sober.

But a Freudian slipped on there. I mean, a somber guy that like knew the weight of, like it was a realization of the weight of what he has done and how bad he has effed this up. It's unfortunate that prior, I mean, there was the report from Shams Sharania that Stephen Adams led a meeting saying, you know, we stink on the road, we were partying too much. And Shamm said this was very clearly directed at Chau Morant.

You know, they're 12 and 20 on the road this year. They've been dominant at home. This is a team that with the Grizzlies, that's like that whole weekend. You got the Brandon Clark, you know, ruptured Achilles. I mean, Brandon Clark has got to have had the most devastating, awful injury that has been wildly overshadowed ever. Like, I mean, the poor guy tore his Achilles. It feels like a team that's falling apart, Chris. That's what it feels like to me from the outside.

How dare you? How dare you? Chris, I mean... They scored 51 points in the third quarter last night. And then they blew it in the fourth. How many people think the Grizzlies have a chance still to win the finals this year? Not... Hold on.

No one has ever said win the finals. How many think the Pelicans do? Kevin O. Pelicans. Hey, Zion's healthy. Big if, I know. By the way, Josh Hart's on the hottest team in the league. Josh Hart's crushing. Thought you might want to know?

Figured out how to shoot again. Pretty cool. Here's what I know. The Morant thing is super serious. And like he has now, Powerade hadn't signed anybody up in like five years. They're about to roll out a campaign. I don't know if they will. The Jal ones are about to come out. I mean, and the NBA and the, and these endorsements, like, they need a guy. And he was the one that was going to fit the bill.

that's what makes this all kind of the new iverson yeah well because look well four of the top five guys right now if you're if you're talking about like MVP right now right you got janis you got umb you've got yokech you've got luca and lucca and you've got tatum right and austin reeks and austin reeks oh austin reves has been great and austin reeks and so and so like four of those top five guys, though, are not from America, right? A young American star that all the kids love is something that all of these brands and the NBA, for that matter, wants. And he was there to fit the bill, and now he's screwing it up.

That's why it's so important for him to get this right. And so hopefully he can get this right. I went to their game last night, the aforementioned, where they scored 51, and then lost in the fourth quarter. I had not been to, I hadn't been to crypto in a long. time. I liked it. Do you guys like crypto? I liked it. Oh, Staples, whatever. The one with the Luke Robatai statue. I didn't know Luke Robitai had a statue until last night. I was like, wow, him and Oscar Day, La Jolla. How about that? You're going tomorrow too, right? Or no?

I don't know. Because nobody's playing. I don't know. I don't know if I really want to see that Laker game. Don't want to see Jared Vanderbilt out there getting stops? I mean, I saw a grizzly's play him a week ago. You know what I mean? It wasn't much of a game. So. Hey, he's put the chair, Jackson. Hey.

So I like the arena all right. With his fake blocks, right? It was weird. It was weird being there. Like, do you go to Clippers games ever? Occasionally. Like, nobody wears any gear at the Clippers game. No, they don't.

Like, nobody was wearing any, you got clipper gear on. But, I mean, people don't. People don't wear clipper gear. Oh, my God. There's a weird feeling around here with the clippers, right? Oh, this guy's got a clipper on. You're front rowing the clippers. I'll just say, like, here's all I need to do.

The last time I came to California, I had, like, a grizzly's jacket on, and they were playing against the clippers, and I was walking around town, and every store I went into, they were like, hey, go gris tonight. And I was like, what? What? What you mean? And I don't even know, like, I felt like half the people at the arena last night didn't even know who was playing.

They were just like, we're in a basketball game. And then Kauai Leonard started going off and it got kind of loud at the end. But I got to tell you, that is going to come off like some hater stuff. That Clippers team is lamer than hell. They are. They are. What makes them lame, Chris? They are.

We make some lame. Because there were so many times. That's one. Yeah. Russell Westbrook, multiple people in the crowd, yell. When the Lakers came to, well, I said that the Lakers came to town. They came to Memphis a week ago, and I was there, and I talked to a bunch of the Lakers guys, and they were like, can you believe that rush shit?

And I was like, what? And they're like, we play in the same fucking arena. Like, did they not watch our game? Here's the thing, Chris. That was pushed for by Paul George and Ty Lou, convincing ball. to do it. There was just, here's all I was going to say.

And Ty Lou, I don't know, say whatever you want. The guy's done a good job there. But there were like a lot of times last night where I was like, man, there is one dude out on this court that I would want. Why?

Like, I'm saying a lot of the lineups. Like Battoom's out there. Morris is out there. Plumley. How can anybody watch him? How? How can anybody watch him play basketball regularly and not just go crazy?

They have a lot of players that wouldn't make your aforementioned guys who don't suck team. No, they got a lot of guys that suck. Yeah, so, and I'm not just hating because they won last night. But I don't, they were not oppressive to me

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Because the hottest team in the NBA is the New York Knicks. Any Knicks fans? Nicks, Nix? They have lost twice since February 1st. They have won nine in a row now. Josh Hart, stroke of genius trade, obviously. Remembered how to shoot? It's amazing. I was reading this thing the other day saying that how bad the pelicans miss him

and how much it has helped the Knicks. after he has been there. Good article. And so, yeah, I obviously just want to talk about Josh Hart. I know quickly's been good. Brunson's been good. But, no, the Knicks have been the hottest team in the NBA.

And for their long-suffering fans, this has been the run of all runs recently. One of which is one of our favorite people at the ringer, Sean Fennacy. Sean Fennacy joins us now. Yeah, Sean? Yeah. What's up?

Yes. My people are here. I'm ready to talk about John Moran. Go ahead. Sean, start off here real quick. In honor of the big picture. Do you want to start off with a Hark-style rant about your love for Emmanuel quickly?

I'm so glad you asked. For those of you who you've seen the film, The Lighthouse, which is a very normal movie, starring Robert Pattinson and Willem Defoe, about two guys locked in a lighthouse. There's a great moment where Willand-Defo character standing over Robert Pattinson's character says, Hark!

And then he delivers an incredible speech. And so we would talk about it on the show sometimes. Here's the thing with IQ. Without IQ, the Knicks obviously don't win last night. And they don't set us in this incredible moment where we're like, Knicks fans are talking about winning a championship right now.

That is, that is, I'm not saying it's logical or rational, but it is a conversation that is happening. Are you talking about this, Sean? I can neither confirm nor deny I said we could win a championship. We need to investigate the group tech. Sean, can the Knicks win the championship in the year 2020? I say if you will it, it is no dream. And okay, here's the thing.

And I'm crazy about the Grizzlies. What the hell is going on here? It's really important here, right? I mean, they're not, they're not having a player about to get a 50-game suspension. I walked into it. I walked into it. Fair. The Knicks almost traded for Donovan Mitchell, right?

You guys know this. You talked about this on the show for months. Knicks fans closely tracked this. Donovan Mitchell, New York guy. Huge, huge Mets fan, New York sports fan growing up. We all wanted him to be our star. The deal that was proposed, allegedly, was R.J. Barrett, IQ. three first round picks,

maybe something else on top of that. Knicks kind of played hardball and didn't want to give up. Grimes was like, maybe Grimes was a piece of that. We're not losing Grimes, right? Right. So Danny Ainge

Quinn It did. Future NBA Chirley and Quentin Grimes. Yeah. Yes. Quentin Grimes. So they don't, they don't do the deal

or Danny Aange throws a fit like a baby and decides to send Donovan Mitchell to Cleveland, right? Right. Fast forward. There's a first round pick that is not traded

to the Utah Jazz that is used to acquire Josh Hart. There's a man named Emmanuel Quickly who's on the Knicks right now who is hoping to lead them to a championship. RJ Barrett,

R.J. Barrett, who is like 40% trash and 60% my favorite player. I love this. Is also looking like a guy who could lead us to a championship. And Julius Randall, who I hate.

is also looking like he could lead us to a championship. I love this. Are you not going to mention the guy that's average who has scored more points since January 1st than anyone in the league besides Damien Lillard? Since Jha got locked up, Brunson is winning MVP. Damn! What a great time for a show, Chris, huh?

What do you? I almost canceled the flight. I almost canceled. Welcome to L.A. Man. What do you guys think about their chances, for real? I think that they are, I think they need to stay away from Milwaukee. And I do think that if they played the Knicks or the Sixers, they, or I'm sorry, the Sixers or the Celtics, that they put the Fear God in them.

They, like, they might, you know, we might be having a game seven in either of those. but that those are, those are the three that I would not feel comfortable going against. I think there's no chance they would beat the bucks. If you told me, if you told me they could knock off the Sixers and Doc and Hardin and that group, I think it's, I think it's plausible, right? So, I mean, I would say that my, my, I would move to like, could they be in the Eastern Conference Finals, which is to move, you know, could you win a second round series? I would actually not want to be four, because four is going to feed into the bucks, right?

So can you keep on winning enough to get to three, which that doesn't seem all that likely? Or, I don't know. I almost feel like it'd be better to be six. They're not going to fall that far at this point. I know. But the fact we're even talking about this is kind of remarkable. I mean, like, just think about a year ago, Randall, you know, Thumbs down.

October. He's off to a horrible start again. And now he's playing better than he ever has. I think with the Knicks, I don't think they're going to win the championship, but I'd still put them below the bucks in the Celtics, Sean. I'm very sorry. But we're starting to see a team actually take shape

in a way that feels sustainable. And that's the big thing right now for the Knicks, a team that hasn't sustained success since the 90s. And I think with them right now, it's because Randall, obviously, all NBA level year, Brunson doesn't make All-Star might make all-N-B-A, at least be in that conversation.

Guys like Mitchell Robinson, right? Like the rim protection he has, and for Tibido, like having Josh Hart, they have flexibility. They can play different styles. You can play with Mitchell at the five. Mitchell Robinson at the five. You can play with Randall. You get Hart and Steen coming off the bench.

They can play different ways. But more than anything else, though, this comes down to Jalen Brunson and the guy that he's turned into. And I think for, you know, Mavs fans that may have lost Brunson, like what an eyesore for them after giving up everything for Kyrie Irving when Brunson's performing as one of the best players in all of basketball this year and he's not just a high-level scorer.

He's a stabilizer too. And that's what the Knicks, like when's the last time the Knicks had a point guard that can just settle things down like Brunson's shot? I can't think. I remember Barbary. It's like a trivia question. You know,

it's been a good long while. I think the Knicks have one 50 win season. since 2000. Wow. They have fewer than five winning seasons in that period of time. They are like

really one of the worst franchises in professional sports. So if I'm excited, you'll forgive me. I just don't, like I really don't like Tibbs or Julius Randall

and every night Julius Randall scores 38 points and Tibbs looks like a genius. And I don't know what's going on. And I really thought that this team was going to get blown up

three months ago. Like, are you guys surprised that they actually somehow weathered the moment? I thought Tibbs was going to get fired today. That's what I expected, you know? Just, I mean, I thought we would see a day where Tibbs would get, let go. Instead, he's looking like a guy who's going to be there for a long time right now. It's crazy. And the other thing is I do think the quickly thing is a very interesting case of so many times

we're always like, hey, if you got to give up that guy to get the proven commodity. Yeah, you do it. And you do that in a heartbeat, right? And there's sometimes where teams have a conviction about a guy that truly pays off. And they clearly had a conviction on this guy. Looking like a sixth man of the year, 19, 4 and 3 during this one streak. 38 points the other night. He's unbelievable.

He's great. And it's not like his trajectory is something that is uncommon, right? He's getting better as time goes on. As his role increases, as there's better players around him, the guy continues to get better. And so they had a conviction about the guy and it's paying off. And I think so many times when guys are not great quickly, no pun intended, we, you know, we write them off or we say it's fine to be discarded. It's a-the guy's awesome. I mean, you saw him yesterday, the 38. I was sitting in the media room watching the end of that before the Grizzlies Clipper game. And I mean, everybody in that room was just totally captivated. Captivated. He hasn't, he hasn't, he's not, he's not that guy. Like, as amazing as yesterday, was he's not that. But what he is, I think that is super interesting is when this new administration

came in, right? And it was World Wide West, Leon Rose, Tom Tibido, the Kentucky factory. IQ is a coach Cal guy. They're looking at Kentucky guys consistently. I think after the bubble season, it was like, maybe this is going to, maybe this is a thing. Maybe this is going to work. And then after last year, I think everybody felt like that was a false promise. And now you look at it and like, they have a lot of draft capital. All of their players are under 30. They're going to have, well, not quite yet, but soon. Oh, I mean, it's down the road, though. I mean, they haven't ruined it. Iq. is going to make four million dollars next year. Donovan Mitchell's going to get even better. To get even better. Yeah, is your point, right? Like, they could get even better next year to actually be a no doubt contender where people aren't laughing in the crowd.

And they're going to be defending the NBA championship. Yes. Heading into next season, which is going to have them really excited. So I just feel great about basketball. I love basketball. All right, fantasy, before you get out of here, give no, give me something. When I'm on the plane, it's a long flight. Give me something I've got to download and watch. Give me a movie to watch that I need to see

while I'm on the plane. A new movie? I'm not, like, I don't watch a lot of movies. Yeah. On the way here, I watched, my favorite review of yours was for Space Jam and New Legacy. Sean, I remember you talking about that on this show. I thought cocaine bear was better than Creed 3.

Holy shit. Wow. Wow. What did I watch on the way here? Kevin O. Takes. The Murdole murders. The Netflix thing. Haven't seen that.

Oh, it was good. Is that a John Morant movie? I got to go. Thanks, guys. I knew I should have canceled that fight. That was better than I ever could have imagined. Chris, I keep walking in all of it. I swear that wasn't a setup.

I swear. It's a setup, man. Thank you to Sean Fantasy. That was great guys, right? Yeah. It's set up. This is a setup. Now, look, these Knicks fans are all like still pumping their chest, right?

Come on, the Knicks are winning the title. Look, I love Sean. And he could probably fire me, so I wasn't going to say that. Come on, come on, come on. Let's get serious. Now, the Knicks fans with all the, and we didn't get Donovan Mitchell. And now look, right?

Everybody wants, David Mitchell had 40 again and knocked off the Celtics today. It's not like, I mean, Donovan Mitchell is having an unbelievable year and it's going to be an all NBA for Cleveland. He's a no-brainer. It's not like you didn't get a booby prize. You know what I mean? Like, oh, and Donovan Mitchell, look at what Cleveland got stuck with.

Like, you guys are one of the best players in the league this year, right? And maybe his best moment of the season telling Grant Williams that he sucks. Did everybody see that tonight? It happened hours before the show. Oh, where at the end of the game, Celtics and Cavs are tied. Grant Williams says, I'm going to make both free throws. Yes, I'm going to make both. I'm going to make both.

And he had a chance to take a lead, and he missed both free throws. And this will actually, Sean would be able to remember this. This is a, this is the guy that made the great proclamation years and years ago, Benny Ogbionni for the Mets, right? It was the worst guarantee ever made. Right. We're going to win the next game. Everybody's like, who gives it?

Well, Benny I bionni says, right? But Grant Williams, as he's walking to the line, he says, you know, I'm going to make both, right? Now, you tell me if this is extreme, you got to get rid of him in the offseason. Like you have to. He can't, he can't, he can't, you know, no, that moment is forever. It's not just because of that. It's not. Well, yeah.

Why do Celtics fans, no Celtics fans that I know can stand this guy? Well, well, he has. None of them like Grant Williams. Why don't you like Grant Williams anymore after he was really good last season? He did have that one box game. Can't make threes anymore. Can't make shots anymore. We're not defending on the same level anymore, right?

Andy's an asshole. You know? Honest truths, I guess. You know. I mean, I guess I got my answer. Annie wants $20 million. Oh, yeah, Andy's an asshole. Okay.

Yeah, but Grant Williams, I don't know how you ever. Yeah, that is, oh, the new Draymond. Yikes. He hasn't punched anybody yet, so. Look. I tell you this, though, that Cavaliers team, they have been a problem for the Celtics also. Yeah. Right?

This year. They had the two overtime wins earlier this year. Then they have, it's three overtime wins that they've had against the Celtics this year. And so you do wonder, we just saw the Knicks knock off the Celtics. We, you know, in that game that we just talked about, we just saw the Cavaliers. Third different time, they've knocked off the Celtics. And the Celtics have lost their grip on the number one seed. We figure that the Bucks are going to be able to maintain that probably out the rest of the way.

These different matchups of these teams that have been so hot, whether it's, do you feel good about the Celtics in a series against the Bucks? Do you feel good about them in a series against Philly? Do you feel good about them in a series versus Cleveland and New York? I mean, these are the teams that are their peers right now. They're going to be competitive, Chris. And it just doesn't feel like that if you go into that series, that if you think they're going to win, it's going to be like winning in a sixth game and a seventh game.

And that's when everything gets thrown up in the air, right? Because you're a sprained ankle. You're one key loss in your lineup away. And I know we could say that about every team. But with them in particular, I've seen them now play against some of these teams that they're going to have to play throughout playoffs, especially when you get, say, to the second round.

And it's going to be a huge spotlight on Missoula, for sure. Without a feel for timeouts yet. Again, much to the annoyance of Celtics fans, including Bill Simmons. Well, and he'll go big, right? That drives him crazy when he doesn't have Derek White in there. The small lineups have been outstanding for them. And the game stuff, that is weird. Derek White has been so amazing for Boston.

this year. Some of the end game stuff is really strange. I wonder, do you think, like we talked about this with other teams over the course of the season, chemistry-wise, I wonder how much of that with Missoula is, you know, stick with Marcus Smart, your leader, the defensive player of the year, rather than going with Derek White, the guy who's clearly better for those end-game lineups at this point. Is it a chemistry thing? And I don't always know if it's smart, you know, because I think that there's a value too smart in the winning plays that he makes down the stretch. It's more the Horford and Williams. or trying to have, trying to be big, trying to match up.

Like there's a lot of guys that, like, want to match up. If they're big, we got to be big, right? But their advantage is being small and playing that way. And so do you think there's any level of concern for them? We thought the Celtics were world beaters the first half of the season. Yeah, when they're shooting 53s a game and making half of them. Okay. But I do think we've been pretty consistent with saying,

bucks throughout I feel like well and the bucks now just had that streak ended um but they got right back on their horse almost they got right back on the horse right after they uh almost a triple double for yannis almost he tried his best let's talk about this yeah

what do you guys think about that yonish triple double attempts lame or forgivable I thought the reaction to the Janus fake triple double. The fake triple double that Janice had. And evidently it's rescinded because it has to be an attempt, like an actual attempt at the goal.

You can't just throw it off the backboard to yourself. I thought the reaction to it, because there's always going to be people that are like, this is BS, BS mad about it. It wasn't quite Ricky Davis. He went on, Ricky Davis, one of the opposing teams basket. That one. Who was the guy in the 90s that tried it

and they called a timeout. No. Do you know Tony Allen told me one time that when he was playing for the Celtics, Ricky Davis was one of the guys that was super nice to him. He's like, yo, T.A., he's like, come over to my house. So he's like, I didn't really know anybody.

I'm young in the league. And he goes, I walk into this guy's house and there's these boxes everywhere. And he's like, yo, you moving? He's like, nah, man. Those are all-star ballots. Get you some, bro. start filling out.

He had all his boys at the house filling out all-star brackets punching the holes for Ricky Davis. Boxes and boxes of All-Star Ballads. Is this a true story? True story. He says it was the crazy shit he ever saw.

So who now... Tony was at the guy's house. The guy had boxes everywhere and he said, are you moving? He said, hell, no, those are all-star ballots. So who is the modern rookie Davis with the bots? on Twitter and the NBA. Andrew Wiggins?

Wiggins. Andrew Wiggins started the All-Star game last year. True. So anyways, look, the Janus thing, I thought that was, that's a great moment, right, where it's like everybody loves Janus. I love Janus, right? I love Yonis.

He's the MVP this season. He's super, super likable guy. Like, if you don't like Janus, there's something wrong with him. you, right? The guy is, he's great. Okay. Great story. Seems to be a great guy. Hold on. Right. I feel like if someone else that like everybody didn't like did that, the reaction would have been so much different, right? Like, there's no way Devin Booker can get away with that yesterday. There's no way. People don't like Devin Booker call like no double teams during that off-stall workout.

Yes. They would lose, but they would lose their mind. If Draymond, the aforementioned Draymond, imagine if Draymond was a rebound away from a triple double, and he did that. He'd go crazy, Grand Williams. I feel like. You go crazy. It was Grand William.

With Janus, though, didn't it feel like he was trolling? Yes. He smiled immediately. It was kind of like, shout out Kendrick Perkins. That's right. It felt like he was trolling. But their street got broken, and it got broken down against Philly.

and M-Bade hits that top of the key three, Hardin hits that massive three, and they're not able to come through on the other end. And then the Sixers now have turned around, and today you've got M-Bed with another 40 piece, you have Hardin with 20 assists. 20 assists. And I know one of our,

if we're going to talk about the Sixers, we've got to talk to Chris Ryan. Chris Ryan's here. Yeah. Yeah. I brought the OKC hat out, guys, because I think a lot of people think of me... We're all the Thunder fans out there.

Yay. They think of me as a Philly guy as a Sixers guy, but I don't know about you, but when I was like a little kid shooting baskets on a milk crate, just dreaming about the NBA, what I was thinking about was rebuilds, you know? And I was like,

dad, what's a pick swap? How do we get cap flexibility? And that's what I really miss about. The Sixers are all right. They're in third. Remember when the process was happening? How do we artfully tank down the stretch? I know.

Now, all right, where are you on the fantasy scale of lunacy? So he just broke out of Arkham Asylum. The next one, like, four games in a row. And the big, lame stream media is out. being like, what a story! And then when the Sixers are the best team since Christmas, everybody's just like, I don't see it. I don't know.

Doc, he's just going to kill him. Hardin. He's on his way out. Where are we on Hardin? Yeah, man. Look, you were as annoyed by him as me, and then you have to have this moment where it's like, all right, now I have to like this guy.

So I had basically, like, created a character in my head named Jim Hardin, who was... James Hardin's twin who had taken over his MBA career, but I was like, it's not James, it's Jim. And Jim's sick. Jim's got the headband.

Jim throws out 20 assists. Got the new hairstyle. Yeah, and then... He doesn't play for fouls. Yeah, he's like... Honestly, it's been a real, like, bracing come-to-Jesus moment because it's been, like,

this is honestly my most hated NBA player. But can you... Do you, like, deep down... wait to hate and blame him. No, I have no emotional. I have no emotional. I have no, no, no, no. But like, if the playoffs come, right, you haven't moved into, I love this guy, this is my guy.

He's on my team. He won't. He's every time I'm like, oh, this, goddamn, maybe this guy's going to be, like, an awesome player for the next five years. It's like, Kelly Iko, let me talk to you about, like, how I'm going to come back to Houston in six months. Chris, this past weekend, though, are you at that stage where you're, like, about to fall in love with him again?

Did you listen to Bill last night? Not yet. No, Bill spent the whole time being like, it's a four-on conclusion that Hardin's going back to Rockets. That was after he spent 25 minutes because he's trolling Joe Mizzula. But then it was like... It's not for sure.

I think Hardin, like, he'd love to play in Houston again. What he? Why? Because it's home for him. Home? He loves Houston. He's not a home. He's from California.

But it's... The clubs are better. The soup clubs are better. It's also a matter of... Hey, you know what? Philadelphia is. working on it. You know, it's like,

I wouldn't know. It's also a matter of if the Rockets want him. Right, because Tillman's really discerning. That's the flip side of it there. Ken, the Rockets do anything else.

Real character building organization. But maybe he goes out, Kauai style, wins one title and then fades off in Houston. I take it. I'd bite your hand off for him. If he wants to win a title

for the Philadelphia 76ers and then go play out his Twilight years with Jabari and Jalen and Kevin Porter Jr., I will drive him to Texas. Do you think it is a grand indictment of the Philadelphia strip clubs that these stories... No, you know what it is. And his stories keep coming up.

Is the talent... Is that where there needs to be a... I just don't... I think there is a tough place to live. There needs to be a rebuild in the Philadelphia... That's the next stage of the process. Yes. Sam Hinky needs to go in.

Yeah. Clean house. Yeah. Get some top traffic. Tear down this wall. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know what it is.

I don't know. Maybe, you know, like, I find Philadelphia. Too many vets. I find Philadelphia. Charming. I find Philadelphia to be like, that's my home. You know what if you can't see it when it's your home. Yes.

But if I was like, if I was not from there and I like, I could see James Hardin be like, this is kind of a miserable fucking East Coast town to live in, man. So where are you in the belief spectrum? spectrum, right? Fantasy's out here talking about the Knicks winning the title. Yeah. Are you now hopeful that the 76ers could get to that moment, or are you sitting there thinking they are the best team since Christmas? I would put my belief at like 8%, 10% three weeks ago.

And then after these last couple weeks, even losing to the Celtics, I was like, you know what, that's not the Globetrotters, though. Like, they're beatable, you know? and we beat the Bucks and I'm like very, the way every basketball fan who has to play the Heat gets nervous about the Heat

like I just hate the heat I don't want to watch seven game series against the heat I don't want to do it I can't watch GameViz. The Jimmy up and under. I can't watch Jimmy be like fucking fuck you,

Thomas Harris. Like I can't do it. So as long as we avoid the heat, the Celtics and the Bucks I think we're great. Because it's 98-94. Yeah. That's the score of the game.

No, but now I feel like it's the East was like a foregone conclusion and is now becoming a little bit more like, oh, you won't play the next in the first round? You want to do this? Do you feel like, you mentioned Jimmy Butler with Miami?

Do you feel like Hardin is the best fit teammate that Embed's ever had? Oh, by far. Yeah. I mean, M. B would probably be like it was JJ or it was, you know what,

man? I'll tell you something. You guys laugh. I was watching some Simmons 17, 18 highlights. My YouTube algorithm is, range. But, it is. At the morning,

when Jaws out at the club. This was before he played Eldon Ring for a hundred hours. He was so good five years ago. He was so good

last year in Utah. Yeah? Wasn't that last year? No, two years ago. When he was pissed at Goalbert, he thought he should be defensive player of the year. So he went there and just

shit on Rudy Gober. He was amazing. He had 42. So I like Ben. He was never a good, he was not a good Joe Matt. Don't disrespect Rudy Gober. That's not

Bring him up tonight. But no, if you go look that up on YouTube, the guy had like 42. He's dunking on everybody. He was crazy. He was great. I like, Hardin's definitely the best teammate Embedithes had. One of the best pick and roll duos. That's what Embed's never had.

That's what they've had to grow to adapt together. Still, though, with Philly, the reason why I put them below Boston and Milwaukee, I still worry about that pick and roll duo when they get switched against. Like against Boston, against Milwaukee in a seven-game series where everything's schemed out, you know, they just have not been the same level of efficiency against switching defenses this year when you look at the advanced data compared to like drop coverds or traps and blitzes and all that. Like they're going to face switches against the bucks or the Celtics. And that's where they like Hardin and Embed are going to have to carry them ISO one-on-one

post-up. Well, I mean, Hardin can do that. You're not feeling me full of confidence right now. Look, I think that this is probably the best Sixers team talent-wise and like just sort of top to bottom that I have cheered for since the process. It's by far not my favorite. It's like the emotional attachment of Philly fans. I think it's kind of like we've heard a bunch of times. And I also think people, I don't know, is anybody from Philly in his crowd? No.

One person? One. The Phillies. Thank you for that. Smattering of indifference. That guy works for the Chamber of Commerce. He's not happy with us tonight. The Phillies and the Eagles

had a huge impact on the Sixers season because when the Sixers sucked, the Phil's were in the World Series and the Eagles were like 8-0. And so like the city kind of just didn't pay attention to the Sixers when they were bad and now they've kind of like become definitively the third best team.

God, definitively the third best team in the conference and on any given night can beat anyone. But, Kev, you're right, man. The tactic stuff, it's like, are their body's going to hold up? Yeah, but, yeah, I mean, you've got, like, the ultimate X's a nose guy. One of the 15 greatest coaches in NBA history, according to the NBA. The best thing... I watched the Netflix thing.

I thought I was... The most amazing thing is that every time Dot loses a guy, he gets, like, 8% better as a coach. So, like, every... It's like, Harris and Tucker got hurt against Milwaukee, and all sees... And he's just like, I need my vets. I got to play my vets. Like, I have guys I can trust. And you wouldn't ask pop that.

And then they lose these guys. And it's like against the heat without Embed, they looked like a crazy small ball, like fireball shooting team. And then they lose Tucker and they lose Harris against the bucks. And he's just like, all right, I just have to. Like on the fly, he's incredible. He actually does come up with good adjustments. But when he's just like, I have my guys, it sucks.

So you say you don't really love them. this is what we got to do. Rank your top five sixers right now in terms of all time? No. Now. This team I want to hear I love and then go one through five on this team. Just for content

I'm going to say number one, Maxie. I do too. Maxi is my favorite. I love Maxx. He's just like effervescent. To watch him, it's just the joy of the sport is to watch Tyree's Maxi play. Joe, obviously. Three?

Are you worried that if they lose, that he will get ante? So I've been game theorying this out. So it's like Hardin says, I want to go to Houston. And then I think, assuming Daryl doesn't go with him or whatever, like,

I don't know what their agreement is. They go back to the suspect. They do seem to be a package shield, don't that? I bet there would have to be a basically break in case of emergency Maxie Harris trade to get a star and play against with him beat.

Oh, wow. And that's... Number three. Dame is my number three, six. Me? No, number three would be... Jim Hardin, number three. Jim.

Love Jim. Hardin. Number four is B-Ball Paul. And number five would be... That is a... That's an upset. That's an upset. I kind of like what... He sucks, but I like what PJ's brought to the team.

Like, he is... I love PJ as a guy, but, like... Wow, guys, like PJ Tucker night here tonight? Never expected an anti-PJ Tucker crowd. Well, I guess so PJ is my number five. Yeah. Yeah. With B-ball, Paul, where is he on Doc's top 12?

Doc is like, 12? We'll look for any excuse to pull Paul Reid off. Like, Paul Reed had to do a public plea to the referees union to be like, explain these calls to me because when you call me for these things, I lose minutes and I'm going to lose money because Doc doesn't trust me. It was like the saddest thing I've ever seen. So where do we end up if we are the Sixers? They are playing probably, I mean, you feed into Boston and you do not feel, you're not scared of that series. I'm scared of it.

I mean, like, I have no confidence that we can beat Boston. We haven't really beaten Boston consistently in the last time. Who do you have confidence you could beat? I think we could beat Milwaukee. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Wow.

I think things get weird with Milwaukee. I think Bud has a little bit of shell shock to him when he plays. Docs in his head. I like this. I like this. So you feel good about Milwaukee. Boston, you're a little nervous.

Miami, I'm going to leave the country if we play. How about the Knicks? How about the Knicks? I don't think that would be good for me and Sean. Do you fear the Knicks? R.J. Barrett is 40% suck. And 60% percent.

carry you to a championship. If it looks like that's going to happen, I'm definitely just going to start writing anonymous sourced articles about Jalen and quickly not liking each other. We're just going to hire like a new freelancer to the ringer. Yeah, right. And it's got to be weird because you've been friends with Sean forever.

Yeah. Like this is the first time. Well, he's been very supportive. He's like notoriously like a really gregarious and sweet guy. But like the last time he had his chest out, right? Yeah. I mean, maybe like for a moment with the jets. He had like a Mets run since like, before the pitchers get hurt.

Yeah. But he's a sweetheart. He's just like, he's sat through a lot of Philadelphia success over the last couple of months. So if the Knicks make a run, I will be supportive. You will be supportive. For sure.

Yeah. It's a good friend. Yeah. I guess that's not really great, great for stage page. I would ask you more questions about TV shows and whatever, but it went so horribly wrong for me. Yeah.

When I asked fantasy that I fear that if I ask you about TV shows, you're going to be like, Yeah, have you seen first 48? See daylight? Verno, wait. I believe you tweeted a... You watched 2020 lately? It's like, did you tweet a Bible quote out about it?

It was not a Bible quote. Was it like Herman Melville? Like, what were you tweeting? You were like, heavy his to head? And when the waters rise, I was like, what are you talking about? Hold on now. This guy was in the strip club. It was...

To whom... much is given, much is expected. But did you call up with that? That's like a fucking common phrase. Okay. It's not like, what are you? You guys trying to act like I was trying to quote, like I was trying to be Henry David Throne.

To whom much is given, much is expected? Chris, top five 19th century American authors. Oh my God. No, seriously, though. I fell back for you, man. Help. Help me. Help me. Do you want some TV recommendations?

Do you want some TV recommendations? Yes, yes. Did you watch Full Swing? Yes. Yeah. Loved it. Just watch it for the Brooks Kepka. I did not like, and I listened to your parents on No Laying Up.

Oh, yeah. And I did think it was fair what you said about the whole, I never heard this before the 30 for 30 test. Yeah. Which is the what if I told you? Yeah. And then you said that Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas are friends. That's tough.

Yeah. It doesn't really pass that test. But I did watch full swing. I did watch that murder-all murders. I did watch, uh, yeah, that's really all the current stuff. So you're Netflix power user. Yeah. I mean, well, no.

I am the trailer king, Chris. So what I do is I go to Netflix and I go to Hulu and I go to HBO and whatever. And I just watch the trailers of everything. Okay. I don't watch the whole show. And then I just, and then I just. And then I just decide if I like the trailer and then I think to myself,

you know what? That might be interesting one day. Do you then pretend like you've seen it? I mean, like, I have no time for that. So you're not watching Last of Us? You're not watching? No. Okay.

Is that what I need to do? I think so. I think it has like, it has some echoes of this grizzly season. The finale began. The finale hasn't happened yet, right? What's that? Finale is on Sunday.

time to binge. Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. I'll make that happen. Got a couple days. You think that's, is it as good as the other ones

that everybody's gone crazy about on the Sunday night HBO's? I think it's a really cool show. Like, I think it's not like my, it's not as good as succession, but it's like completely different. Yeah. So season four of that.

Chris should watch that. Succession. Yeah. Yeah. That's the one I should go back and just watch. You should just binge succession. Both through. Everybody lost succession, huh?

Yeah. Wow. Big succession crowd. Yeah. All right, maybe that's, maybe that'll be the one. Because that's only what? Three seasons so far. Yeah, but you can not, I guarantee you'll knock that out.

You can get that done. Oh, you'll love it. Yeah. All right. Yeah. All right, then I'll do that one. If there's, and if there's something new, the last of us, like, zombies and shit. There's, there are some zombies in the beginning.

You seem skeptical. There are some zombies at the beginning. Yeah. What happens to them? Do you want me to, so there's a, they're not around ever? A fungal virus that attacks the world. Fungle virus. World pump population through cereal.

and people wind up growing mushrooms out of their head and being controlled by like a mother sort of fungal virus. Is it better than the peaks of the Walking Dead? Yeah, I think so. I think so. Wow. Walking Dead was cool for like six hours. I agree, and that's about it.

And that's about it. Yeah. I got to be honest, man. That was a tough cell. Walking Dead? No, no. Oh, do you not like scary stuff? Oh, do you not like, hey, watch the show about this fungal virus.

Oh, no, Chris. You had to be there. I guess I did have to be there. Well, he got his joke off. Thank you, brother. Thanks, guys. Thank you, brother. Chris Ryan, everybody.

Chris Ryan, everybody. He is very, very level-headed about the 76ers, right? He's been through a lot himself. He's been through the process and everything. And so now, and the whole James Hardin thing, it is just so bizarre because he's playing so well. You would think they would love to. wrap their arms around him and be excited about this.

But it is every other week that the stories come out about he's leaving at the end of the season, which is just strange. It can't be helpful towards trying to accomplish your goals. The Wodge report on the Christmas morning. You know, the athletic report earlier this month. I mean, it's not going to go away anytime soon. And obviously, like, he says, I don't know where that's coming from. Like, where is that coming from?

You know what I'm saying? Like, why would anybody think? that he wants to go back there, especially given, you know, not knowing what's going to happen with the lottery. Well, we don't know. If they got the number one pick,

it would be understandable at least. The fact is, it is a possibility, though. It is, there is a chance hard and goes back, but I think it's important, though, to underline, though, the rockets need to want him to. Right. That's the flip side of it there.

So Houston, I think we talked about this a couple weeks ago. Yeah. Houston's going to try to have a big offseason. They have their picks. I mean, like, granted, like, it's been out there for a long time now that this is a team that feel like they're ready if they get lucky this off season. So I think for them, they're in a position now. It depends on what happens on lottery night in May. And then it what happens depends on what happens, you know, draft night and free agency.

That's going to determine if they're even an appealing destination for Hardin or if they have any interest in them. So for the Sixers right now, like these stories are going to come out. They're going to try to distract the team. But ultimately, for Philadelphia, they are a team that has a chance to win the finals. They are. With that hard and a bead pick, and all despite what I said earlier, that is concerning against the switching defense,

but they have the versatility on defense you need. They have size. They can battle against a team like the Bucks or the Celtics with two bigs. They have the ability to go small and a pinch if it beads in foul trouble or whatever with Tucker. They can play different styles. But ultimately, though, they're not on the level of the Bucks or the Celtics. All right, let's talk about the new favorite meme update.

So we've gone all the way since last playoffs, when we have had the Devin Booker Luca Donchich meme, right? It got updated yesterday because Booker's up in his face and then after the game, Booker says what he says. Luke was actually like,

that was the most funny he's been and it wasn't even that funny. But it was the, I wish you'd talk before there's three seconds left or something like that. And you love, the idea that like there's, And they both acknowledge everybody's always saying everybody's always playing kissy face after the game,

exchanging jerseys, autographing them for each other. I love the trash talk. And now it does feel, I don't know what this, what the reason is, but it does feel like there is a rebellion against that to where we are now having more often than not, these teams really get chippy with each other in a way. And I don't know, I don't know what's happened with that. I don't know if it happens to be the competitors that we're dealing with. I don't know if it's because there's some guys that are more apt to talk right now than maybe talk before. But I love the idea that those guys, you know, have something going and that they'd be screaming at each other when it comes playoff time and whatever.

And I sincerely hope that we would get. I mean, if we could get that as like a three, six or we could get that even as a four or five. I mean, you're counting a lot on Dallas because Phoenix is going to be up there. Whatever round it is. First round, second round. We just want to see that one, man. I mean, because like now you get that on top of it, what is like an authentically emerging rivalry, which is what we all want more of as basketball fans, right?

But then on top of it, like you got Kevin Durant and Devin Booker against Luca and Kyrie. Like the level of shot making that we saw in that game was absolutely unbelievable. Now, when we talked about this last week, I told you about the, With the Dallas thing, I think we both agreed. Not enough defense. It's got to be a shootout, right? And these two guys have to be just absolutely spectacular. And they have to hit these crazy amount of threes.

You know, we saw them hit a crazy amount of threes recently. But even in that game, like, did you, don't you come away going? Like, is this true of Phoenix also? Because that's how they did it. I mean, those guys had like over 70 points themselves in Booker and Durant. And so what happens when they don't, right? Like, are we going to get, you know, when you get schemed against in the playoffs, there's going to be teams that are taking stuff away.

And I, and there's, I think everybody keeps waiting for Chris to show back up. But it kind of feels like, you know, he's going to have a moment and he'll have a big playoff game like he did last year. Isn't it weird seeing it turn into like a glorified spot-up shooter? Chris Paul. It is weird. Even this season. He does not control.

games when you watch Well, I mean, it's going to be interesting to see the way the stats break down and, you know, the remaining weeks of the season because still this year, Chris Paul and DeAndre 8 and run more pick and rolls than any other combination per game than anybody. You know, even more than Harden and Bede, right?

So, but the remaining, remainder of the season, I expect Booker, Durant to really eat into that. And Chris Paul is going to have to change who he is, more spot-up shooting and more just swinging the ball around the floor, which is different for him, but it's what's necessary at this point of his career.

Yeah. Do you look at this new, the Phoenix with Durant? And I think people have been split on it. At the beginning, there's always the, oh my God, they got Durant.

They've got to be the favorites in the West now. And then everybody cooled out after about a week because then they realized, oh yeah, Kevin Durant's not playing. And then he's come back from the knee injury,

and he's looked awesome. Because every time Kevin Durant plays, he's awesome. It's like he misses no time at all. It's the weirdest thing. Like, there's no like, hey, I'm going to get back in the flow of things. I've got to get the rust off.

He's immediately awesome. Start off at 10 minutes, 15, 20. He's immediately awesome every time. Do you look at them now and feel better about them as a title contender slash? Do you think they should be considered the favorite in the Western Conference, even over, say, Denver? Because I think that people. I thought that right after the deadline. People like Denver, but now you've seen it.

Now you've seen it. Is that Sons fans? Yeah. Bright Future Sons. Yeah, he's got a, he's got a Dragon Bender jersey on. Pretty good. I love Bender.

35. I know you did. I know you did. Turn it into a KD jersey. No, but no. For real, though, Chris, I think the sons are the favorite in the West.

They are. They are the favorite in the West. Lakers in four. So sons are the favorite in the West, but I do think in that game against Dallas, something that stick out to me, though. We see Ish Wainwright go four or five from three. A lot on Wainwright. You paid all this money to hear somebody talk about Ish Wainwright. And here's what's next. And we also saw Josh Okoge go 0 for eight. Wow. 13 shots from three. We've got that on the bingo car.

But if you're talking about Phoenix as a final threat, whether it's just of interest, play some bets or whatever, that's a lot of shots for a Kogi and Wainwright for a team that has finals hopes, right? That's a good one you can use. Hold on. Put it on the list. Hold on.

So the reason I have all these envelopes, just in case, I went to the, I forgot my pad at home, and I went over to 7-Eleven across the street, and I said, hey, man, you got some paper in here? He's like, we don't have paper. I was like, you didn't have to be mean about it. And he's like, and I was like, do you have any paper products?

He's like, I think we got a box of envelopes over there. So I bought 50 envelopes for eight bucks. And this is what I write down on. Oh, Kogi. Shout out to the mismatch listeners. All right. Got it. That's the point, Kef, is that when you get schemed against,

it's not going to be all great games for Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. They're not simultaneously going to be dropping 70 on you every single game. And so who are you counting on when they don't? Because you were out on Aiton. I'm not letting you get back on to him. Things have changed. No, not things have changed. He's a bum.

You said he was a bum. He was. And now he's changing. No, a bum's a bum. He's back. That a bum, that's your heart. You're a bum in heart. Maybe he is.

You don't change. You are that. But Chris, what was he? You fool people for a little while. What was he? Yes. But then your bumness comes back. All you're going to do is fool people from April to June.

But that's, you can't, when you're a true bum, the true bum cannot fool you. Then he's not a true bum. Well. He's just occasionally lazy and demotivated. You can have 20 assists on a random Sunday regular season game. But when you come back, you know, playoff time, I don't know, man. You're not counting on DeAndre Aiton, you know that. But you know what, Chris?

You can't wait to say that he's felt flat. Now for Phoenix, they don't need to rely on DeAndre Aiton. They have the card they can pull with Kevin Durant at the five. Durant this year has been an all defensive caliber player. Him and Nick Coxon earlier this year with Brooklyn, they were unbelievable together. And Katie's already been great for Phoenix so far. But they can pull that card out now in a series against anybody putting Katie at the five. I just think they need a third guy that you do count on.

Do you have no faith in Chris Paul? I mean. How about you guys in the crowd? Very mixed. The two sons fans. Very, it seems mixed. How about Wish, is Wainwright?

Ah. A Cody had a rough night, but he was good, two, three weeks prior. Yeah. Really good. Well, all right. Let's get to the, let's get to the Warriors.

The Warriors got Steph Curry back. Wow. Wow. These are my kind of people. I love it. Finally, we're all friends. So the Warriors, they got Steph Curry back, but with Curry, without Curry,

the one thing that has remained the same is they can't win on the road. All year, it is the damnedest thing. and they lost when we most recently saw them with Curry back in the lineup. To the Lakers. They lost, they lost, Angeles Lakers. They lost to the Lakers.

MVP, Chris, Austin Reeves. I do wonder if it was a sign of, like, the problems that they had with Davis. And when Davis is at his apex, it is super unique, right? but there's a lot of teams with a lot of good big guys in the league and in the Western conference right now right and it does feel like you're asking a lot and I'm you know Looney you've got to give him credit he had big moments very last year right but you know

everybody kept saying that that that was the Wiseman thing the Wiseman thing the wiseman thing was so if you had to go big and obviously no it wasn't no and that and that obviously felt drastically short and then they've got but they're really at they're at their best when they're small. But you saw like in a, in a, in a scenario like that Lakers game, Davis destroyed them, like destroyed them. And there's nothing you can do about it with that. You know what I mean?

It's not like they could just go to Looney and just say, okay, now we're going to go big, you know? Like, I do wonder the road thing and then the, you know, switching out the lineup stuff. And then I feel like the Wiggins being. out and being gone for personal reasons has just kind of gone by the wayside. But at some point, that becomes concerning because he has not been around for a long time. And I think that people watch the Warriors and they're like, oh, I guess Wiggins is hurt. Like he hasn't, it's not an injury. How fair is it keeping him out?

How fair is it to judge the Warriors right now with so many guys in and out of the lineup throughout the year? The Dremont thing at the beginning of the season, Steph missing time. Wiggins out right now. And yet they're still in it. They're in the mix, for sure. On paper, they still look like a finals contender. So, like, with them, we haven't seen them at full strength basically the entire season at all.

We have, though. We did see them at full strength, and they weren't very good. No. And nobody wants to acknowledge that. Small sample, you know what I mean? Nobody wants to acknowledge it. They weren't that good at the time, right? Like, I mean, with the new lineup changes and everything.

And so, and then, you know, Clay got good after. Steph had been out for a while. And now Steph's back. But, I mean, then they come back. They get Steph back in the lineup and they still can't win these games on the road. Now, they have this unbelievable streak of always being able to win a road playoff game. I told you months ago that when you asked me who scares me the most, they were the team simply because they've never, when they've never, when they've been a long time. And since their championship run, they haven't lost when they have had healthy, healthy Draymont, healthy Curry.

Healthy Clay. And that's a respect that you have to give them. But there's no question that we keep waiting for them to turn it on. We keep waiting for them to look like the team that you should fear. And when is the last time you saw them and thought, oh, boy. Like, I mean, I'm watching these other teams every night. Do they have that in the box? I'm watching the Sixers.

I'm watching the Celtics. And I walk away going, Jesus Christ. But do they have that in them? I think they do. But we just haven't seen it since last finals is the point. It's like the early 2000s Lakers that won the championship. They're like bottom 10 on defensive rating. They turn it up in the playoffs.

Doesn't it feel like the Warriors have those qualities to do that? Assuming people stay healthy, Wiggins actually comes back. We just keep making all these, right? Big ifs. There are big ifs. But this is a year with no certainty in the Western Conference when it comes to the contenders. We don't know with the Grizzlies. We don't know with the Nuggets right now.

There's still going to be issues for Yokic in a playoff series against Steph Curry and Clay Thompson with the drop coverage. There's still going to be issues for all these teams with the Sons. Their depth could be problematic at certain points. We don't know what level Chris Paul is going to reach or his durability up and down the line. There's questions with every single team. And that's why with the Warriors, I don't think you can necessarily, despite all their issues this year, you know, fade them when it comes to the finals chances. I think they'll probably play stronger competition, honestly, on their way. I mean, they played the Grizzlies and that game, that went to six games.

games. And then they got Dallas. And then they got Boston, right? And that's how they got to their title last year. And they were not very good last year throughout the season at times. And then they went to the playoffs and they were fantastic. And so, but we're just looking at some point, like it's like, man, we haven't seen it since last playoffs. They have to turn back into last year's playoff team again in the playoffs. Because throughout the regular season, they have never shown us to be that team. And then on the other side of that loss there the night for the Warriors, the Lakers actually won the game.

They feel like a team, even without LeBron James, that's starting to take shape right now. Jared Vanderbilt looking like an unbelievable edition. Anthony Davis, we've talked about him throughout the year, ups and downs throughout. We're getting the ups now with AD. Schrooter, Beasley, Reeves. Mo Bamba.

Yeah. They feel like a team that's starting to take some shape, Chris. These Celtics fans, they can't believe this shit. They're like, he used to be one of us. But here's the thing, Chris. Look at this, son, bitch. On a stage in Los Angeles talking up Mo Bamba and Austin Reed. I feel you, fellas.

It's Kevin O. Tatum. Now he's Kevin Obamba. It's wild as hell. I've always been O'Bomba. Man. That's wild. He played two minutes in that game. But you got to admit, though, Chris, that if the Lakers right now, if they can straddle

around 500 or slightly better without. You're going to kill that pelicans pick, isn't it? Damn, that's tough. You wanted that for your pelicans. It's so close in the playing race right now, though, Chris, that you can't really rule them out getting in even without LeBron James right now. Is that fair to say? You can't rule them out because everybody's so, you know, I mean, yeah, they're all so close.

And all they get to do is be in it. in LeBron James may or may not come back. I would assume he would if they're in it. I'd be surprised if he didn't come back. Really? I mean, are they about to lose right now? Oh, that would be great timing for you talking them off. What's the score right now?

Wow. Yo, and then getting smoked by the Grizzlies tomorrow night. Everybody was like, go back to that last pot and see how stupid you sound, Chris. 121 Kings 103 Pelicans at the moment. This is recording, right? We're recording this. Our tech guys in the back.

What are they down? How many? 18 points. That's tall. So right after the game becomes official. How many Bomba got? They're going to have the same record. 31 and 34, both the Lakers and the Pelicans and the Jazz and the Blazers.

All those teams, same records. They all suck. They all suck. All of them. Yeah, look, here's what I know. I do think that it's going to be, it's going to go down to the last week of the season, and that is good, right? It's going to go down to the last week of the season. Yes, which of these teams end up in the playoff or play in and which of them don't.

But, I mean, you've got to figure that we never expected Utah to be there. We never expected OKC to be there. So we'll see if that plays out in the same way. We didn't expect Memphis to play in, that's for sure. Second place. Ahead of the Pelicans, I'll admit. You really did. That's an underreported story of the NBA season.

Is all them hater-ass tweets you sent me right around Christmas. Every time I tweet something out, it would be like, hey, Chris, way to cope with the pelicans having a brighter future than the grizzlies. Hey, Chris, I know you're just mad about the pelicans being good. Hey, Chris. Hey, here's a reminder of how awesome Herb Jones. You're like, I had a great lunch with my kids. Yeah.

I'll be like, yeah. I'll be like, yeah. Haley scored two goals today in her soccer game. Hey, Chris. Pelicans got the done. Pelican. And they got that Lakers pit. And the Lakers are faltering.

Underreported story. Yeah, sure. Hey, now they get another lottery pick, their own. Be it honest, huh? Now they get another lottery pick their own. This is perfect because we got to talk about lottery picks. You got all these conference tournaments that are going on right now. You got all these college athletes now that are going to be on center stage for a lot of people,

people that have not watched college players throughout the year, watch them for the first time. in the conference tournaments, and then obviously next Sunday, we've got selection Sunday, and then the NCAA is going to, the NCAA tournament follows that. We're going to talk prospects, and I am so happy about this, because let me just tell you, when I first started at the ringer, the first person I worked with was Tate Frazier. And Tate Frazier is now back with the ringer. He is the prodigal son who has come back to the ring. He's got the One Shining podcast, a podcast that is now up and running,

started back last week. We are going to talk some college prospects and this upcoming NBA draft and what you need to pay attention to when you're watching this NCAA tournament coming up with Tate Frazier. Hey, uh, welcome back. YouTube.com. Welcome back, Tate. God, I'm fired up. Yeah, so no Amani Bates questions.

Yeah. We get that out of the way. I like his game. I like his game. I've been watching. I've been crunching the tape. All right. Let's talk about these conference tournaments that are going on.

First thing's first. If someone out there is a huge NBA fan that is not watch college basketball season and maybe, just maybe their team's not any good. Right. So now they need to start paying attention to the draft. They're looking at Kevos. They're looking at the draft guide. And your opinion of the players that are most worthy of going out of my way, way to watch. Now, in these conference tournaments, I'll give you an example, years ago,

throughout the season, you'll remember, SGA was not good for Kentucky. Not at all. Four star recruit. Conference tournament, he murdered everybody. Right. Absolutely murdered everybody. The rest is history. The guy ends up getting drafted in the lottery, and the rest is history. Now, guy's an NBA superstar. Who do I need to watch? Who can I keep a lookout for? well I decided you know I was going to talk about college basketball and I was asking KOC what we're going to talk about and KOC goes have you been watching Santa Clara? I'm like yes I guess I guess I'm locked in on Santa Clara so Brandon Pogimsky is a guy that you should be fired up about if you're reading the ringer draft guide the year the year after

Jane Lynn Williams goes to Oklahoma City is right now the best rookie in the league right there you go Jalen Williams playing for Herb Sinney So I had no idea I would come out here and talk about Herb Sendeck, who's had a great career. Four straight years with 20 plus wins at Santa Clara. Shout to the Broncos. I was fired up about the conversation there. I saw Max Lewis, by the way, at Pepperdine. Yep, Max Lewis. He was a potential lottery pick.

He got benched at the end of the game that I went to against BYU. So maybe bump him down. K.O.C. I don't know. We'll see about that. But yeah, I mean. Who do you love? The unfortunately in college basketball this year, the top two picks, right, are very. Victor gonna go number one, hopefully to my Charlotte Hornets, right?

If the NBA cares. Wow. What? Oh, Hornets fans. Come on. There was one guy who said. It's wearing a Hornets hat. Shout out to this guy right here.

Unbelievable. If the NBA cares about Michael Jordan, why not give him the best prospect we've had since, you know, right? And let Michael Jordan bring Patrick Ewing from Georgetown and then go to Victor Bintwimba Niamma and say, get your back to the basket, learn a post game. You know what I mean? And ruined his career, so we only have one goat. Right? That's what I'm saying.

No, and he could be in Clifford's Big Red Dog House and they can go get, you know, Kim Birch or one of the old, or they play Mark Williams. Sure. Oh, my God. Put him behind Kai Jones and let him sit on the bench. I mean, come on. Let Kai. Got to get rid of Clifford if you draft Wemby.

Oh, well, we'll see what happens with that. But again, the top two prospects, right, are not playing in college basketball. Scoot Henderson and number two. Scoot him. Maybe the top four. if you count the Thompson. Right. And then you got you got the Thompson's. And then, you know, the one guy that you could talk about in college basketball is Brandon Miller, which, you know, obviously there's a lot of.

Right. So, so yet again, yet again, here we are with college basketball. We want to brag on the sport, but we have nothing to brag about. You know what I mean? How about who's next after that? Jarris Walker from Houston? That's my guy after after that. I like Jaris Walker, but if you watch the Memphis game, yeah, two big turnovers at the end of that game when the pressure was.

on and shout out to my guy Kendrick Davis. King Kendrick Davis. Can we talk about Penny Hardaway, by the way? Oh, Penny. Penny's a clean man. He's doing great things at Memphis. Everyone's fired up about it. I'm really fired up for Memphis.

We love Penny Hardaway. Right. Kenny Hardaway is my favorite player growing up. I've gotten to know him over the years. And this is actually, for the Memphis team, it's actually the most fun Memphis team to root for. Right. It's because Kendrick Davis, people should go out of their way and watch him

because he was, this is just the way college basketball is. And I do lament this. I will tell you that my son, last year we went to a game. All right. And all these college teams, you know, the small schools I feel like now. Were you going to see Amani Bates? Yes. Okay.

But the smaller schools, I do think, have an advantage because, and I think we're going to see some of these teams that are able to have their veterans all the way through, have an advantage because I can just say, for my instance, they change out the team. every single year. There's no, like, there's like maybe one or two guys that are still around. So the story goes, last year I took my son to a game and I said, they have all like the jerseys because NIL, right? Now they can make money. So they have all the t-shirt jerseys that you can buy. And I said, all right. So that guy's not going to be around and that guy's not going to be around. I was like, and that guy's Durenne in the money base, right? Right. Bates ain't going to be around. Duren's not going to be around. That guy's going to transfer. Okay.

This guy's going to go somewhere else. I was like, all right. Boogie Ellis is going to go to USC. Yeah, right. Let's count on, let's get us a guy that you're going to be able to root for for a couple of years. All right. So we bought Josh Minot. And Josh Minot got drafted in the second round by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

And so the point is, the point is, if you can't keep Josh Minot in college basketball for two years, it's just going to be like these teams. They got new rosters every single year. And so it makes it very difficult. But that Kendrick Davis, he's been playing SMU his entire career. Right. He's got one year left. He comes. He plays for Penny Hardaway.

The guy was conference player of the year last year. It got fun to watch. Is he a Kemba candidate? Oh, for the tournament, absolutely. I mean, Kendrick Davis is one of those guys and Lomax. I like their back court a lot. And if Memphis is, say, an eight or a nine seed, they get a draw with, say, a team like, you know, maybe in Alabama.

or maybe a Purdue. That's a pretty good draw. They put pressure on. Penny Hardaway gets a nice win. And all of a sudden, we're talking about Penny Hardaway, maybe going back to the NBA and being a head coach.

Enough about my team. Yeah. The reigning champion, North Carolina Tor heels, you are. Raining champion, yeah, say that loud for everyone. But you're plugged into there.

What the hell? Or is anybody going to keep it real about what happened with this? Like, what happened? How can the team that brings everybody back? from a title team be terrible. Right.

Well, I think, if anything, this is good news for Brady Manick. Brady Manick, the fact that the Denver Nuggets put Jack White on their roster and not Brady Manick is the most egregious thing that's happened in NBA history.

It's Adam Silver's fault. You know what I mean? This is the Duke NBA that we live in. Yeah. But Brady Manick, the value of this guy is at an all-time premium. If you haven't seen

the Perth Wildcats highlights, go check those out. Pretty impressive. He's playing in Turkey. now. Go check those out. This guy's a great basketball player. Look, this Carolina team, they are

probably the most frustrating basketball team I've ever watched. I try to defend them. I've done my best. I've stuck my neck out. And now I'm at the point where I'm pulling against them. I want them to lose in the ACC tournament early. I want them to be out of the tournament just so that things will change. There needs to be a shock to the system.

It feels like we got a little... We got a little mic... They're not going to play in the United Team. We're going to say no to that. It feels like... like some Mike Davis, Hubert Energy right now. Huber Davis and Mike Davis had the same last name.

No, but Mike Davis made it to the title. Yes. With Indiana very quickly. He beat Duke. People forget this. Yeah. And Huber Davis also did twice against Coach K. People also forget this.

And they ran Mike Davis off and now. Yeah. They're out on Huber Davis right now, huh? Well, I mean, there's some people that are out on Hubert Davis. I think the big change needs to be. There needs to be a second guy. There needs to be a coach right there.

That's the number two. Perfect example. Houston, number one team in the country. Everyone loves the Houston Cougars. They have, you know, Kelvin Samson. But really it's Kellan Samson,

his son, the number two that's really running things for this team. And I think North Carolina, it's great to have Hubert Davis be the front man, the face of the program, but maybe you bring a King Rice or someone in there, like a J.R. Reed, maybe a Rick Fox just for fun, just to see what happens.

Let's get a face in that program. Let's get a number two. Yeah, where's Rick Fox? What? Here. Tate, he might be here. He might be here.

Tate, being out here in L.A. possibly with Rick Fox in the crowd. UCLA is back. Yes. I was at their game the other night,

which they won against Arizona. Hamé Hamehakis. Is he like the NBA's next Alex Caruso kind player? Oh, do it all guy.

All you. I see all you later. Don't get boners now. You know what's funny? You said Caruso, and I saw a look in their eyes. They're like, we should have paid him more money. There's a wild look at their eyes, brother. They said, a new caruso.

Right. Well, they do have Austin Reeves now. Yeah. Shout to Austin Reeves. Oklahoma legend. Yeah, Hami Hockes weirdly does not play like Alex Gruso. Sorry to tell the Lakers fans out there, but he plays a lot like Jimmy Butler. So if you are a NBA fan that has shown,

trying to find guys that you want to watch in college. Maybe Hami Hockes can check that box. But with UCLA in general with Mick Cronin, they are a legit national championship team. And it used to be, okay, UCLA, they're fun. Like with Steve Offord, right, when they had Lonzo ball. That was a fun team. They go to the Sweet 16.

They go to Memphis playing that regional. People forget Luke May hit the shot against Kentucky. I was there. I was supposed to be there. I was there. That was, what a time. Malik Monk. Yeah.

Crazy three. amazing no time out they went down to the other end and you know like when they go to regionals um kentucky just packs places out right absolutely you could have heard a pin drop in that place when luke may hit that shot i mean you want to talk about real depression and you know it obviously like with uh seeing a calipari team lose was just so hard for me just to watch right to see him you know and then all those kids crying i i hate it i hate it i hate it i hate it i hated that so much. Yeah,

Luke May's a hero. Yeah, that's a fun team. That's a fun team. That was a great time in college basketball. I'm kind of nostalgic a little bit about that

because like you said, we're talking about the top prospects and things like that. When you look at that Kentucky team and you look at a team that's Deeran Fox, who's been amazing, love Deeran Fox right now

with the Kings. Out of bio. Yeah, Malik Monk, also with the Kings out of bio. I mean, what a time in college basketball. And now we look at your draft board, KOC, and, you know,

there's one guy in the top five from college. basketball and he has his own baggage. All right, but even as we get down further, who does Tate Frazier, give me three guys that you think are in college that are going to be awesome in the NBA? I mean, that's a really tough draw, you know what I mean? Are you serious? You can't find three guys in the college basketball?

The craziest part about college basketball, you said awesome. Yeah, it's going to be awesome. It could be pretty good. Right. I don't want to hear your ass talking about how awesome this draft is if you can't get three. It's not awesome. It's not awesome. It's a role player draft.

It's, yeah, exactly. There's, there's a lot of good fits in college basketball. There's also guys that you could buy into. And there's also these, these guys that have the name recognition, like a G.G. Jackson, for example, right? A guy who reclass goes to South Carolina. He has a nice head-to-head game there against Brandon Miller.

That was kind of his big moment. But he also had a few games this year where he caught himself out of games. Much like John Moran. He also had his own Instagram live where he, Right. Well, not as bad. He just called out his. coaching staff and said I need to be getting plays called. Maybe that's the big thing. Just don't go in IG

live. Yes. And that'll be a big way for you. You know, I mean, there's a lot of top players, a lot of good players in college basketball. But, you know, like even a guy that comes to on like a T.J. Shannon, right, for Illinois, the guy that's a shooting guard that there's a lot of variability in college basketball to a lot of these players where you see them and you see them play at their best and you're like, oh, man, I can see them being a star. But in reality, the games are so far removed from each other, When you look at college basketball, you look at Feebud, you look at the NBA. They are the same sport, but the games are so different. That is so hard.

I mean, I feel for these draft nicks or these gurus that are supposed to figure this out and protect these guys. Because who would know that Jalen Williams, obviously, he grew eight inches from sophomore year in high school to a senior year in high school. He goes in his freshman year, I think of Santa Clara, averages about six points per game. 30% from three. Right. Who would have thought that guy is going to be like you said, KOC, one of the best rookies in the NBA. averaging like 20 points shooting 45% from three the last two months or something like that. Right.

And you know what I would say? If I was one of these NBA scouts, well, he has a little brother. His name's Cody Williams. He's going to Colorado. He's a five star. I'm going to act like he's really good.

And I'm going to tell all my people in my front office and I'm going to sound smart. Well, how about Keegan Murray goes from, you know, average like five points per game in college to becoming a player of the year contender. And then his little brother, Chris Murray, following a similar journey where he's,

you know, test the waters in the draft, goes back to college. And suddenly now he's in the same spot. Yeah. Where are you on the big O'F at Purdue? Mm. Zach Edy.

So, me personally, I think Zach Edy's going to play in the NBA, you know? You do? I do think so. I think Zach E you'll play in the NBA. He's going to love him. I don't know if KOC's going to love him. I think he's going to be like the 60th pick in the draft. He feels to me like a Luca Garza type project where you bring him in.

Don't, don't you slander Luca Garza. No, there's no, there's no slander because I love Luca Garza. But I think he's one of those guys. And I think I said this to Bill the other day, I feel like if you tell Zach Heady, who started playing basketball at 15, to kind of lean into his personality, he's kind of a funny guy, you know what I mean?

Deep down, he's a little shy, a little reserve, but he is funny, a little quirky. Like, be like Bobon, you know, be a fun project, be the seven foot four guy, do some commercials for us, hang out with the mascot, you know, shoot some commercials with the team. Like that's what we need him to be, you know, more of a, a fun mascot for the program, you know.

And he's seven foot four. five and hey let's have a fun time. He'll be in the league. Better than Bobon. And Chris Ryan told me once upon a time, tall teams win titles. So if you have Zach Edy on your team, hey, that's a good thing to have.

Fair enough. Last thing, national title, right? Everybody's got to be filling out their brackets. Right. Who should everyone have in their final four? I'm not asking you, you know, I'm not saying they got to win the title,

but you think that a smart final four would include who? I'm not saying that this is an NBA situation where it could be rigged. It's not an entertainment business. But if you are in the entertainment business as an NCAA model, you have to say to yourself, what does this year mean? The final four is in Houston. Jim Nance, this is his last final four. Where did Jim Nance go to college?

Houston. Who is coaching Houston? Kelvin Sampson, one of the best coaches in college basketball. What does he need redemption for? His time at Indiana, which what he did there with the phone calls with recruits, all that's legal and respected and love now. You know what I mean? The one blip on his career is absolutely adored by the people in college basketball now.

He needs the redemption story. He needs this moment in time. But now we're 40 years removed from 1983 a time when Akima Langewan and Clyde Drexler should have won the championship for not NC State airballing, a three-pointer that led to a game winner. I mean, what a moment in time an air ball leads to a championship? Only NC State, right? So Houston to me feels like the Sure Fire team with Jim Nance With the whole story of Kelvin Sampson

Houston will be in the final four Houston and Houston They get NBA guys to watch too Jarris Walker Versatile 68 does so much on the floor Sasser really good point guard saw him the other night And where is the final four? It's in Houston And Jim Nance on the call

Think about Jim dance taking the tie off Giving it to Kelvin Samson Talking about his alma mater It all makes a lot of sense, but at the end of the day, I think Kansas is going to repeat. So if you want to throw in a ticket, the Kansas Jayhawks.

My man. Thank you, brother. Thank you. Tate Fraser, everybody. All right, we got a little time for Q&A. Before we get out of here, we're going to take some questions from the crowd.

If anybody's got them, raise your hand. Take three or four at least. Anybody have Q&A? Q&A? Kna. Ben's going to find you. Here you go. Right there on the front.

Have it. Let's hear it. First of all, I hope the theater staff patted Verno down. We can't be too sure about nervous guys. Also, I wanted to... I'm getting nervous over here.

Oh. Sorry. I also wanted to thank you, Pau Gasol's retirement jersey is tomorrow. Thank you for Paugasol. You're going to cancel the flight. So here's my question. And I think KOC is going to be the only guy who can be unbiased here.

Who's more delusional? Laker fans such as myself who believe that the Lakers can win the West or Grizzlies fans who think the Grizzlies can win the West. Who's more delusional, Chris? Lakers fans or Grizzlies fans for thinking they can win the West. Is this even a thing? Who's more delusional? bro, the Lakers might not even make the playoffs.

What are we talking about? The greatest are second place. Did you just sit there down 20 tonight? LeBron's out for three weeks before they check it? No, that wasn't the Lakers. Oh, what? That was the Pelicans? My Pelicans, Chris.

All of them. They're all your teams. I think, listen. On my post-trade deadline power rankings that I put up, they were like, championship power rankings, assuming this team makes the playoffs, what are their odds of winning the title? I had the Lakers ahead of the Grizzles.

Of course you did. Of course you did. The Grizzlies... You're Kevin Los Angeles. The Grizzlies are a young team. And they have all these issues right now. Whereas the Lakers... Suck!

No, they don't. What have you watched this season? They're way above 500 since the deadline. Without the LeBron James playing any game. Oh, my God. They don't have Russ anymore. Oh, yes. If the Lakers get in, if the Lakers get in and have a first round.

You guys have poisoned, my man, with your delusion. If the Lakers get in and have a first round series against the Grizzlies, you're going to be terrified. I'm not going to be terrified. Yeah, you are. Of the Lakers? Yeah. Stop.

You're right. He's biased. Terrible question. We got any more questions? Terrible question. in the play. Let's go right there. Light the bean. What's up, guys? Heat fan

here. I was wondering what you guys think about what the heat can kind of do down the stretch to get the rotation right. You know, since the Kevin Love acquisition we've seen Caleb Martin coming off the bench but finishing games. Just wondering what you think

guys like that like Caleb and Victor O'Dipo, how they can help out of the team and what you see as the best case scenario for the heat this year. Do they have to bench Kevin Love or keep rolling with him? No, I don't think you do. They just got him into the, into the lineup. So, I mean, there's going to be an amount of time.

And he's going to be good for them on certain nights. He's not a every single night you are going to get the big Kevin Love night, but make no mistake. You will hear about him in a playoff game. There will be one of these nights where Kevin Love flips a game for them. He at least gives them some lineup flexibility. You don't have to go with Kevin. of, but you can go with Kevin.

He's also, but it's also harder to target him on that team. Because he got Bam. Because they've got, yeah, they're flanking them with great. Good wing defenders. Yeah. But ultimately though, I mean, we've talked about this all year. When we talk about Miami, you say there's a regular season heat, there's a regular season, Jimmy Baller, and

there's a playoff Jimmy Butler when he's taking 20, 25 shots a night. It's going to come down to Jimmy Baller. It's really that simple. And look, and while we don't know about Missoula and we don't know about Doc Rivers, and we don't know about Spoh. And we don't know about you know, people still have their questions about Bud.

One thing you don't have questions about is Spolstra. His team, they will maximize their preparation for whoever they're going to play. I tell you all the time, they are the team, and I think there's a reason. Chris Ryan doesn't want to play the heat. Like, I mean, you don't want to see Jimmy Butler when it comes playoff time. You just don't because, you know, if you get in the, they're going to grind you down. They're going to get in these close games. I like Caleb Martin.

I like the love acquisition. And Ola Depot, you know. there's nights where you watch him and you will think, like he can be, he can really cause some havoc on defense still. And there's the nights where he gets you like, you know, 20 something points.

And you're like, yeah, where did that come from? That looks like old school, Oladipo. But again, they're not like all those ancillary guys. They're not like every nighters.

And so they're just going to have it. You got to have four of them when it comes to a playoff series, right? You got to have four of those. nights. And I do think between a couple of those guys. I like the heat and I also think that they're like the team that nobody wants to see. Let's take another question. Yep. Oh, a lot of arms going out. Whoa, whoa, whoa. We'll try to get a couple more. I think I know that guy right there. Oh, no. Who is Kevin? It's Kyle. Big fan.

From Bekepti, New York. It's Kyle. I work for the ringer, full disclosure. Big fan. This is in the frolic room. Yeah, I produced a couple of shows back. at 2016, 2017. I'm just wondering, not a basketball question, if that's okay. Is the photo op after the show my best chance or are we drinking somewhere tonight? Oh, boy.

I don't know. How did you know Kyle? How did you know Kyle was going to ask this question? I didn't know Kyle was here. I didn't know Kyle was here tonight. Yeah, I didn't go backstage. I was just with the regular folks, mingling. Kyle, drinking hand.

Kyle, I'm wherever you are, brother. Yes. Fantastic. You call it. You call it. Let's go back there. Oh, spread around. Spread around.

Look at this. Yeah, that's good, Ben. Yeah. Wow. Hey, I just want to ask, today's NBA versus old school NBA, step back threes versus hack a shack, you know, big man style, what you guys thinking now? Today's kind of, I don't know.

You know, all step back three. Come on. I love the NBA right now. I love the NBA right now. Still. I got to be honest. Not a driving kick, but it's still fun. I think that I like the NBA

when it comes to the playoffs now. I think that we have devalued the regular season so much that what you're seeing is a... It's... The play is not. I think that's good for the league that when people tune in and they watch the playoffs and they get that heightened intensity, I do think that it's awesome when it gets to the playoffs and they're playing hard. And they are focused on and every possession matters.

So regarding like playoff basketball, look, I've been around for a long time. So, I mean, I remember those playoff games, the Pistons are playing. And I don't want to watch 72 to 68. You know what I'm saying? Nobody wants to watch that. And I do think that there are... You want to watch 176, 175? I don't want to watch that either.

Did you guys, you guys enjoy that? No. A mixture. I just think there's a happy meeting when it comes... I think when you watch a regular season game... That's why, look, bro, that's why we say we watch these games and we go, that felt like a playoff game. That means it was good.

You know what I'm saying? Like, these teams played hard. These teams cared about every possession. It went down to the wire. But along those lines, does the NBA... question for the crowd. Does the NBA need to do something to help defense with rules?

Do you think so? Illegal screening, hand checking, hand checks. How many people like just keep it as is, love the offense? See, like, this is just... There's probably a medium that they've got to find, but this is what I'm saying...

But Chris, this is a sampling of hardcore NBA fans who listen to our podcast. Yeah. And it's not like a, you know, it's what did you say earlier, smattering and different? mattering of a difference. I think that one,

I think that's why we like the playoffs, though. Because there's the defense. Right. I do think that there is, they don't, they don't call, you can clutch and grab in the playoffs

and you can play physical defense in the playoffs. They do not allow it during the regular season, but you watch these playoff games. I mean, those Celtics Heats games last year were wars. That seven game series, they weren't just flying up and down,

taking shots with nobody guarding them. and flying around scoring 150 points, those things were wars. Every bucket, every possession was a fight. And if you watch that, you just don't see those kind of games during the regular season very often. And when we do,

we call it out and we say, oh, that's great, you know, that felt like a playoff game. Mm-hmm. Because everybody was playing hard. We get time for one more. One more?

You want to call us one out, Chris? No, you go ahead. You seem to be. I see two pointing in the middle there. Like two points. You can take a female, right? Yeah, take a female question. Two points right there in the middle, Ben.

Who's the hottest NBA player? And why? Is it like a Kelly Ubrae? Show them your screen saver. Moamba? No, no bomba. Moamba? Hold on.

Let me look at the teams. I'm not, I'm going to take your question. just seriously. Rick Fox. I mean, Devin Booker dated a Jenner. Son of Ben Simmons, that's true, yeah.

The most, the most handsome guy in the NBA, huh? Trying to look through these teams. Jordan Clarkson, someone from the crowd says, Oh, giddy. Josh, giddy.

Is it a hair thing? Yes, the hair. it's the clothes. Giddy. He's on league fits all the time. You don't look at league fits? Yeah. I think Giddy, like, you know what I mean?

Like, I think if I'm, you may not have meant it this way, but I'm thinking if I, like, if I'm rolling with the guy and, well, you like the long hair. And I'm going up, no, and I'm saying, and we're going to go, we're going to try to find chicks and we go into the club, giddy's like, sure.

Drain in the place. Drain in the place. So when we go out with Kyle, you're inviting Josh Giddy then. We're getting Josh Giddy with us. Yeah, I'd take Giddy, right? We can take one more, I think. You got one more?

Bingo. Oh, he's in the back. What? Well, they're going crazy. There you go. You got one back here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We got him.

He's got you. All right. What's up guys? Hey, buddy. I'm a native New Yorker, which means I'm a Knicks fan. Let's go. Let's be honest, the Nets belong back in New Jersey, right? So, right?

So there's a lot of hype about the NICs right now. I'm more of a realist. I think that we need a superstar. If we don't have a superstar, we're not going to go very far. How do the Nix get a superstar? It's not worked for a long time. I want to be happy for the NICs, but I don't trust them. How do we get a superstar?

I actually think that this is your best case scenario. to attain them, right? Because what you have people... Hold on now. Teams, teams want to trade for players that have shown to be able to be a part of winning, right? And they're doing that. And so it extends, like, when you've got Barrett and you've got topping and you've got quickly and you've got all these guys that have shown to be able to be a part of winning

and you kept your draft capital, right? that you have seen many times, even when they talk about the Donovan Mitchell deal, right? Maybe now Hart makes some, maybe now you're not hanging on to Grimes the next time in the way that you were that time, right? So the more depth you get and then you are able to. We know the Knicks are building up, but the thing is, is right now is who's the next star that's actually going to be traded? Who's the next one that is? Is it like a, I hear Lucas from the crowd. that would be shocking.

It would be ahead of schedule. But if the Mavs fell flat on their face and Kyrie again, how about if the Sixers fail, Hardin Leaves, could Embed be the next guy? Edwards isn't going to, Edwards, no. I'm scrolling down the ringer top 100. I'm just going to pretend Janus is number one. Oh, the ringer top 100.

I'm just going to pretend Yonairns is 100. If we could stay here until midnight, brother. Well, holy mother, Paul George, Zach Levine. D'Amard de Rosen? D'Marre's an interesting one.

DeMarreauzen would actually be a fit with Brunson too. The Rosen's interesting. Right? Yeah, that's a good interesting fit. Embeded. I don't know. Stephen Adams. I do think you're equipped, though.

I think you're equipped now. Like, if you ask, how can you get one? I mean, look. Grant Williams. If you want young superstars, like, hey, what young? superstar you get. I know. I think you have to wait for,

I mean, look, get Trey Young. Oh. Go get you Trey Young. I mean, let's be fair. He killed it in New York. You're not moving off Jalen Brunston

to downgrade a Jammarant. Oh, God. Lord Almighty. That's enough of this show. This show sucks. Look, I, look,

um, from the bottom of the heart from me and Kevin, like we had no idea what it was going to be like when they asked us to do a live show and I cannot thank all of you enough for listening to the mismatch

and then coming out here tonight and making this event a success for us. I mean that sincerely. We go on the air, two times a week, we do the mismatch. We've been together for now a long time. Seven seasons.

Seven seasons. It's 2016. That we have done it together. And, you know, Kevin and I are, and we've been, in seven years, we've been through a lot together, both, you know, in our personal lives and professionally. And I'm very, very lucky, like, you know, it is, it is called the mismatch, but we're truly from two different, you know, places on Earth. And we are also in two different, you know, two different age brackets, two different places in our lives. You're in your 60s. when we first started, yeah.

I'm in my 60s and he's in his 20. Don't look it about Chris. And we got very lucky because it just so happened that it worked, right? And in fact, I was at the All-Star game just about a week ago in Utah. And a guy came up to me and he was like, he asked me, he's like, how do you guys get along? He's like, you seem to have nothing in common. And I was like, well, I think that's part of it, right? I think it's part of it why it has worked.

And I do think that we both hold a lot of the things that we care deeply about, whether it is not taking ourselves too seriously, believing that things are going to get better, seeing the best in people, loving our families, those core things are what we have always been able to relate to each other about. And then so talking about the basketball stuff and being able to barb each other, that stuff comes pretty easy. My favorite is when we get the tweet saying, are Kevin and Chris okay after that argument? We're always okay.

And I'm like, it's always okay. I love arguing about basketball with you, Chris. But, you know, like it's a weird deal because we don't have, there's not a live audience when they're doing a podcast. And we don't know outside of people, you know, communicating with us on social media or whatnot, you never really know. You never really put faces to it unless I see somebody at a game

or somebody comes up to me and tells me, and the same goes with Kevin. But see all these faces out here and for everybody to show up, we cannot thank you enough because, again, we didn't know how this thing was going to go. And so we're very, very appreciative,

as always, of all of you for listening to the show. And hopefully we're just going to keep doing it for a bunch more years. Absolutely. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, guys. Thank you, everybody.

Thank you, guys. At the end of every mismatch, at the end of every mismatch, I always thank our executive producer, Jesse Lopez. I want you guys all to see him because Jesse Lopez is here. There he is.

Jesse Lopez. Yeah, Jesse. So thank you to our executive producer, Jesse Lopez, as always. And Kevin, I will talk to you on Friday. Have a good week, everybody.